The Olympia in London

A painted ivory and wax plaque at Timothy Millett.

Art and Antique Fairs are an education whether you collect or not. The day after the opening of the Olympia Art and Antiques Fair in London (which runs through next Sunday, June 15th), we went back to have a good look with JH’s lens at what anyone with curiosity might be missing.

For example. Timothy Millet who deals in Silver, Antiquities and Numismatics, Objects of Virtu & Miniatures (you still with me?) had fascinating tiny items in glass cases in his booth. He’s holding it up in this picture (above):

A painted ivory and wax plaque, circa 1800. Its subject is the Abolition of Slavery. It has two wax kneeling black figures with metal chains around their necks, hands and feet. There are two naval ships approaching in the background, with the legend: O Lord Undertake For Us, in a woodframe with a loop for hanging. This kind of piece was popular at the beginning of the 18th century when the public outcry against slavery began in England. Its price: 3500 pounds. Tim Millett’s email: tim@historicmedals.com.

At Dolf D. van Omme, who deals in 19th-21st century European Art, his assistant holds up a copy of a later Mondrian to show how the artist started and how he developed his idea about space and line. There are more than 20 years between the two.

Andrew Dando has a small booth of glass cases holding Staffordshire porcelain. I first heard about Staffordshire listening to my mother and her sisters talking about it reverentially, not knowing what they were referring to. So I took the opportunity to ask Mr. Dando just what was its mystery or mystique. First of all, it's old and there are three different ways of creating the china with paint and glaze. He showed us a rare elephant. Why rare? Because when this piece was made in the late 1700s by Ralph Wood, his customer had never seen and only heard of an "elephant." The creature itself was a rarity to "civilized" knowledge. He explained the uniqueness of the artisan's work and what made it rare. Mr. Dando we also learned, has a shop in Wiltshire but does tremendous business with collectors over the internet, never actually meeting physically. That day he'd sold something to a collector in South Africa. The Elephant still had not sold, but no doubt it would. 19,500 pounds. www.andrewdando.co.uk

William Cook, the dealer told us that old American flags are rare but very popular with Americans living in London. He evidently has quite a clientele with American bankers to hang in their English houses and flats to keep on eye on their heritage and motherland. This particular flag dates back to 1861.